1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a drive mechanism and an image forming apparatus provided with the same.
2. Related Art
An image forming apparatus such as a copy machine, a printer, a facsimile machine and the like generally includes: a plurality of image supporting units (photoreceptor drums); a developing unit that transforms an electrostatic latent image formed on an image supporting unit to a toner image; an image transfer part that transfers the toner image formed on the image supporting unit to an object such as paper; and a fixing part that fixes the toner image transferred to the object.
There is a demand for an image forming apparatus of higher image quality and lower price. Accordingly, a structure for maintaining high dimensional accuracy is required in a drive mechanism to fulfill such a demand.
As a drive mechanism of high dimensional accuracy, for example, a drive mechanism has been proposed that includes: a sheet metal part; a shaft rotatably supported by the sheet metal part; a drum part rotatably supported by the shaft; and a driving part firmly attached to sheet metal, in which a drive gear attached to an output shaft of the driving part is engaged with a driven gear attached to the drum part. With such a drive mechanism, since the driving part and the shaft are attached to the sheet metal part, an interaxial distance between the drive gear and the driven gear is highly accurate.